The Scholar
by Dragon God Draygan
Summary: He was a hermit who lived alone for decades, she was an orphan abandoned by her family on the shores. Read as he takes her into his home and helps her become someone new. Sorry. I suck at summaries. Please enjoy and leave a comment on what you think. Don't own Fairy Tail.
1. Chapter 1

Ch. 1 The Scholar

Eric, the Scholar of Fiore, walked along the beach, a book held open in one hand and a slender, wooden walking stick in his other, making his path. He wore long, flowing robes of a light blue that ended just above the ground. His skin was pale, an effect of staying indoors for a majority of his life, reading and studying the arcane. Such is also the reason that he wore a pair of glasses on his face. A long, brown beard with several strands of grey adorned his chin as long hair of the same shade reached his shoulders from his head.

When he was reading, he had a habit of ignoring the world around him, which allowed for him to disregard the louds sounds of construction in the distance as a new casino was being built. Knowing this, even he found it a marvel that he managed to hear the sobbing cries of a young child. A girl no less.

Looking up from his book, he turned to face the direction the sad sound was coming from.

Before him stood a young girl, not even ten years, crying her heart out at the shore of the beach. She wore tattered clothes and a white eyepatch over her eye. What stuck out most to him, however, was her scarlet colored hair.

Cautiously, he approached the child. As he drew close, though, she turned around and saw him. The two looked eachother in the eye for a fraction of a second before Eric decided to speak.

"What is wrong, child?" he asked her.

She responded only with choked sobs, her hands frantically wiping away the tears away as they fell from her eyes.

Intending to comfort her, he quickly closed the gap between them and kneeled in front of her. He put a hand on her shoulder, casting a spell to calm her down emotionally for a short while, causing her to look back up at him.

"Child, where are your parents?" he asked her. She shrugged, still sniffling slightly.

"What about your friends? Do you have any friends nearby?"

She shook her head, pointing out to the open sea.

'She must be from a ship that wrecked in the ocean,' Eric thought to himself. 'If that's the case then she will not have any place to go home to.'

"Child, do you have anywhere to stay tonight?" She shook her head again. Eric nodded.

"Very well. I have a home not too far from here. You can rest there for the time being until we find your family. Alright?"

The girl nodded, smiling slightly. "Thank you, mister."

"Not a problem, child. And please, call me Eric. What is your name, if I may ask?"

"Erza. Erza Scarlet," she spoke softly.

"Well then Erza Erza Scarlet," Eric said in a joking manner which caused the girl to smile slightly as well. "Allow me to be your escort to my humble abode."

"Thank you Mr. Eric."

He smiled at the girl and clapped his hands twice quickly. A magic circle appeared beneath the two of them and in the blink of an eye, they vanished.

With a loud pop the two reappeared inside of a room unfamiliar to the young Erza Scarlet. The entire place was made of stone, a rectangular green carpet lain in front of them. Weapon racks on the walls with a large assortment of medieval weapons on them, ranging from warhammers to daggers and staves. In the middle of the hall was a stairway that led to the left where a stone bridge ran across the hall. On the far side of the hall was a kitchen with a wide assortment of items ready to be cooked.

Standing in front of the cooking pot was a tall man wearing a tuxedo suit with a tailed coat and a pair of white gloves, stirring the contents with a wooden spoon before taking it up and tasting it himself.

"And how is it, Richard?" Eric asked the man.

Clearly surprised by the voice, Richard shot straight up, the spoon flying into the air, flinging its contents all over him. Seemingly unfazed by the turn of events, light orange stains now covering his white shirt, he quickly bowed to the man who had addressed him.

"Lord Eric! I am surprised to see you. I had expected you to be gone for atleast another hour. I'm sorry, dinner is not quite ready yet."

"That's fine Richard. I'm not hungry just yet. It does smell delicious though. Tomato soup?"

"Yessir. Heavy cream tomato basil soup. Your favorite if I recall."

"Indeed. Thank you for making it."

"It was my pleasure, Lord..." It was then that he noticed Erza, who was now hiding behind Eric's leg.

"M'lord, who might this be?" Eric smiled brightly, nudging the girl out from behind him.

"This, Richard, is Erza Scarlet. I found her on the beach shore with no one around. For now I've decided to take her in until we can find her parents."

Richard smiled politely at her, bowing to her as well. "Well, I never expected to have a princess over for dinner tonight. I hope that you are okay with tomato soup. Lord Eric is incapable of going a week without this dish."

"Only because you make it so well," Eric retorted.

"Then maybe I should spit in tonights pot for good measure."

"You wouldn't dare."

Erza laughed at their banter, blushing at Richard's comment. Both men stopped, turning to face her.

"Well whaddaya know," Eric said as he picked her still laughing frame up. "The quiet girl can laugh! Richard, get the history books. This is important!"

Several hours later, dinner had been served and eaten quickly, mostly by an overzealous Eric who drank his first bowl within seconds and was getting himself seconds. Erza wasn't used to such heavy foods, so Richard made her some crackers, an apple, and a light cheese for her to eat.

Now, she lay in a bed on the second floor, Richard sleeping on the floor next to her. Eric had retired to his study a while ago, telling Richard to be sure that she goes to bed at a reasonable hour. And that he did.

Eric had promised her that tomorrow morning he would show her the rest of his home and to say that she wasn't excited would be a lie. A smile on her face, she pulled the blanket up to her chin and closed her eyes, matching Richard's steady breathing until she too, felt sleep tugging at her. Her eyes drooped closed as she fell asleep, dreams of her future with Eric and Richard playing in her head.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey. Sorry that this chapter is late. I went on vacation and completely forgot to upload this before I left. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. And thank you to all of you who favorited, followed, or commented on the first chapter. It really means a lot.**

Ch. 2 The Tower

"It is time to wake, Lady Scarlet," Richard said as he gently shook the young girl awake. Erza moaned softly as she turned away from the loyal butler. A tick mark appeared on the man's head as he rolled up his sleeves. "Very well. If that's the way you want to play it, then you leave me no choice."

With speed that betrayed his appearance, his arms shot towards the young child, fingers moving quickly as he tickled the girl into consciousness.

"Alright, I'm up. I'm up!" She yelled in laughter.

"I'm glad to hear that. Now hurry and get dressed. You don't want to miss Eric, do you?"

With that her eyes shot open as she recalled what was going on. She quickly hopped out of bed and ran across the stone bridge she had seen the other day, past a group of mannequins that each wore a different robe and had a different staff attatched to its back, down the flight of stairs and straight into the room they had eaten at the night before. It had a small, square table, just enough for the three of them the previous night. It was just a few steps away from the kitchen, making eating that much easier.

In the room were three dressers, two books on each of them placed precisely so that, when opened, they would take up the entire platform. Erza looked around for a moment, wondering where Eric was when one of the books slammed open, the pages flipping madly, stopping on a page with pictures made of symbols that moved across the paper. Eric materialized in front of the book, his hand resting on the pages.

He turned to Erza, wide smile on his face. "Sorry if I scared you," he said. "I was reading something and completely lost track of time."

"What was that?" Erza asked.

"That was magic. Let me show you." He held out his hand to her, his other one hovering over a book that was performing the same process as the one before. Quickly, she grabbed the man's hand before feeling like she was being sucked into the book. In less than a moment she was spit back out, still holding Eric's hand. There was a loud sound behind her of another book slamming shut behind them.

Looking around, Erza noticed that they were at the top of a tower, walls of glass surrounding them so they didn't fall onto the trees of the forest below.

"Before I show you around, I should first explain what this place is," Eric said as he went to sit on nothing before a chair formed itself just in time for him to sit on it. "This place is called The Tower. It is a magical building that was created by my family. It takes whatever shape or form that its master wishes. As of right now, I am its master. If I ask it to make a new bedroom for our guest, it will do as I ask. The only way into the living quarters of this tower, where we usually are, is through my spell or one of my trasportation books. As long as you are welcome in my household, just like Richard, you will be able to make slight adjustments to this place, such as temperature and lighting.

"Now for the actual tour. Right now we are in the observatory. This is only one of many places that I will show you today. The observatory is used to help study the stars or the surrounding area. It's also a pretty nice place to eat."

He took them through the book again, back into the living room before entering a new one that led to the pantry which was stocked full of food. They repeated this process for the rest of the books, going to an armory that held a large amount of swords and armors, a training room where automotons where ready to spar whenever you were ready, and one that led to Eric's own bedroom which looked no different than Richard's, where she'd slept that night, except for the fact that there were only walls and windows and the walls were all covered in hand-drawn magic circles, books, and other magical items.

When they returned, Erza walked to the last book but was stopped by a sharp tug by Eric.

"That is my personal study. You are not allowed in there, ok?" Erza nodded, slightly scared by his serious face.

"Good. Now, I believe it's time for lunch. Let's go see what Richard has prepared for us."

She nodded and walked into the kitchen where Richard was cutting things for sandwiches. That's when she noticed something for the first time.

It was a symbol that she had never seen before. It was a large eye with what looked like beams of light coming off of it in stone. She turned around and saw the exact same symbol on a tapestry that looked like the symbol was made out of a constellation.

"Richard?" Erza asked, pointing at the eye. "What's that?"

"Hm? Ah, the eye. I do not know for certain, Lord Eric is the one who told me about it but that was years ago. All I remember about it is that it's a symbol of scholars in order to help identify eachother. It was around over seven hundred years ago, back when arcane scholars were some of the only people who ever spoke to a dragon without it trying to bite their heads off."

"It used to be a symbol of pride, of power, of honor, and many other great things," Eric said from behind them. "Now it is forgotten to all but the most dedicated of my order. Truly sad."

"Why is it forgotten?" Erza asked.

"According to legend, dragons taught humans magic several centuries ago. While many people believe this, many others, myself included, do not. I believe, and there is plenty of evidence to support this, that the first humans who learned magic were a part of the group called The Enlightened Eye, a group of humans who attempted to unravel the mysteries of this world and, in doing so, discovered magic. They were the very first arcane scholars. That order has survived countless trials, surviving even to this day."

"How do you know that they are still alive?"

"Simple," he said with a proud smirk. "Because I'm one of them."

"Really?"

"Yes ma'am. I have been a scholar of The Enlightened Eye for forty years, researching the mysteries of magic since before I was accepted into the order when I was just becoming an adult myself." He waved his hand in the air as if to ward off bugs. "But enough about that. It's ancient history now. We should focus on the present and the future. Speaking of which," he turned to Erza. "What do you want to do, Erza? I can sense great magical power within you, and I fear that your talents will be wasted inside this tower with a man as old as I."

"Fairy Tail!" Erza exclaimed. "I want to go to Fairy Tail."

Eric nodded slowly. "Very well, I shall take you to Fairy Tail." He repeated the same spell he had done on the beach, the circle opening to encompass Eric and Erza before vanishing in a second, leaving Richard alone in the tower.

"Well alright then. I suppose I should work on the dishes." He walked over to the kitchen, taking off his coat and rolling up his sleeves before noticing the three plates of turkey sandwiches that he had spent the last ten minutes preparing left completely untouched on the counter.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Before yelling about letting good food go to waste and taking his hard work for granted.

 **AN: Hello again. It's been a while. Thank you all so much for your support on the last chapter of this story. The chapters are all about this long, just so you know. And if you need help on what the tower looks like, I'm basing its appearance on the Skyrim mod 'Scholar's Refuge'. Feel free to google it for a better picture. It was a tough choice between that and the Frostcrag Spire from Oblivion, but I figured that you would all like this one more. Regardless, let me know what you guys think in the comments below. Have a nice day.**

 **Oh, and also check out my youtube channel, Wizard Warrior Gaming. Me and a buddy of mine do let's plays of some of our favorite and most anticipated games. Come and check us out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Here's another one. I thank all of you for your support for this story. Five followers and three favorites! I know that that probably isn't all that much to a lot of you, but to me that means a lot. Thank you so much! Now, onto the story!**

Ch. 3 The Lessons

When they appeared in the guild with a snap, the force of their sudden arrival caused several tables to be pushed away. Luckily no one was sitting in them. In fact, the guild was pretty empty as far as Eric could tell. Not surprising once you realized how early in the morning it was, but still perplexing nonetheless.

Eric quickly spotted Makarov, the guild master of Fairy Tail, having met the mage a few times at meetings. As they made their way to the man, Makarov watched the two cautiously.

"Relax, old friend," Eric said. "It's me, Eric." A small smile appeared on the guildmaster's face as he stuck his hand out to shake which Eric gladly accepted.

"And what brings a scholar to my small guild?"

"This little one. Introduce yourself."

"Hello sir. My name is Erza."

Makarov's eyes widened when he saw her. "I didn't know you had a granddaughter. Why didn't you tell me?" he said to Eric.

"She isn't my granddaughter. My grandson was kill a long time ago by bandits when they invaded his and his mother's home. You know that."

"Right, sorry. Didn't mean to open old wounds. Any way, how can I help you, kiddo?"

"I wanna join the guild," She said with a surprising amount of energy and enthusiasm.

"Well then consider yourself in, sweetheart," Makarov said as he pulled out a fairy stamp, putting it on where she asked. "What kind of magic do you use?"

"I-I don't know," She said.

"I'll take care of that, don't worry." Eric said as he put a hand on her shoulder again. I'll teach you a type of magic that will show just how strong you are. Okay?" Erza nodded cheerfully, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight embrace.

When Eric managed to get her to let go before he suffocated, he turned to Makarov and gave him a two-fingered salute before tapping his staff on the ground twice and creating a familiar magic circle, teleporting them back to the tower.

When they returned, they bore witness to a completely calm and collected Richard sweeping up some dust on the ground and throwing it away.

"Hey Richard. Sorry for skipping out on you for lunch, buddy. I'll make it up to you."

"That is fine, Lord Eric. I am sure that there is much that needs to be done. What with training Miss Scarlet magic and all that."

"You saw?" she asked him, amazed at his talent.

"I was scrying the two of you. I am glad that Makarov hasn't passed on yet. He will make for an excellent teacher."

"I agree. He will most definitely be a strong guild master for several years to come. And I have a feeling that they will need one as strong as he. But you are right, Richard. We do have a lot of work to do to teach you magic, Erza. We will begin after we eat some of Richard's delicious sandwiches."

About an hour later, Eric and Erza stood in the training room which consisted of several automotons lying dormant on the walls and a large mat for fighting in the center of the room with benches surrounding it. Richard sat on one of the benches, ready to provide aid whenever it was needed.

"Erza, I will be teaching you two things in this room. Magic and how to fight with it. I can sense within you a magic that feels very similar to my own. A style of requip magic. And so that is what I will be teaching you."

"But, Mr. Eric, what is Requip magic?"  
"It's a magic that allows you to store weapons or items in a pocket dimension to be summoned again at a later time, like so."

He held his hand out in front of him, a wooden longsword appearing in his palm as he slashed down so the sword was by his side.

"That is Requip Magic. But the magic itself is only half of it. In order to use the magic effectively, you need to be able to wield what you summon. And that is the other half of what I will teach you, how to wield a weapon."

He summoned a small wooden sword that was proportionate to Erza while he exchanged his full sized sword for a wooden training sword as well.

"Let's begin," he said as he readied his weapon.

 **AN: So what did you guys think? I hope you guys liked it. This is definitely not my best piece of work, but I think that it was pretty good. Sorry that it was so short. I'll try to make up for it in the next chapter, promise.**

 **Please favorite, follow, and leave a comment on this story. And be sure to check out my other stories as well as my youtube channel, Wizard Warrior Gaming.**

 **BYE!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: HELLO AGAIN! Sorry that it took me so long to get this up. It completely slipped my mind. As I'm sure you can tell, something here is gonna happen. I hope that you all enjoy!**

 **NOW ONTO THE STORY!**

Chapter 4 The Reason

With a loud clang, both of Eric's swords were knocked out of his hands by a now teenage Erza Scarlet who was now holding one of the three swords she had requipped, one in each hand and one being held by her foot.

"I win," she said with a smirk. Eric just chuckled as she put her swords away.

"I knew the Knight was perfect for you," he said. "Your skill and speed at requipping armor and clothes is one of the fastest I've ever seen."

"It still pales in comparison to yours, master," Erza said as she watched Eric requip from his Warrior robes to his usual attire, complete with his ever-present staff.

"That is simply because I have a lot more experience than you with this magic. I can promise you, when I was your age with the amount of practice you've had with this, you are much faster than I could hope to be. Besides, the Scholar style of requip only changes robes and staves, nothing compared to the hulking..."

"Skimpy, rather," Richard mumbled on the sidelines too quietly for either of them to hear him.

"Armor and massive weapons that the Knight has to deal with. I'm just saying, you will probably surpass this whithered old fool."

"Whithered, yes. Old, yes. But you most certainly are not a fool. You taught me everything I know, about magic and otherwise. Without you, I don't know where I'd be."

"Thank you, Erza," Eric said as he put his hand on her shoulder, giving it a slight, but friendly push. No longer were they master and student as they had been for the past decade. Now they were peers. Equals. Friends.

"Now, I need to go and lie down. These old bones aren't as good as they used to be, and this body certainly can't take the same amount of beating as it used to." He continued to speak as he walked away, his staff supporting him all the way.

Erza hated seeing him like that. She missed when he was younger and could do more than just talk to her as an equal. She wanted to fight him in his prime. But now, even with the Warrior robes, robes that increased the wearers physical power and endurance ten-fold and also created a magical armor to protect the wearer, he could do nothing but defend himself against her.

Standing back up, she walked over to the bench where Richard was still seated and sat beside him, grabbing an ice cold water bottle and drank from it. Richard on the other hand, was doing his best not to stare at the girl that he had seen as a younger sister for years now. Why did she have to where the samurai outfit with the bandages as a bra? WHY? **(AND NO! NO PAIRING OF THESE TWO IS GOING TO BE HAPPENING IN THIS FIC. HE'S OVER A DECADE OLDER THAN HER. THESE ARE JUST HORMONES HAPPENING.)**

"Hey Richard, can I ask you something?" Erza asked her closest friend.

"Of course, Miss Scarlet. Anything."

"Why do you serve Master as his butler? Not that I dissaprove, I'm just curious."

"I'm surprised you didn't ask sooner. Before I tell, how is your eye doing?"

"Great. Thank you so much for making it. It's been a life saver."

"Good. Now, to answer your question; I serve him to repay his kindness to me."

"What do you mean?"

"Lord Eric found me when I was a bit older than you were when you first arrived. At the time I was a street rat who stole everything I needed. It was tough for me back then, but Lord Eric found me and took me under his wing along with several other children from the city who were in similar situations to me. Heck, I knew a few of them. Lord Eric took it upon himself to educate us about things other than crime and theivery. He tutored us in mathematics, history, science, reading, writing, and so much more.

"When we had turned sixteen, he had given us a choice: to go out into the world and try and become whatever we wanted, or stay in the tower and continue our lessons, only adding magic into the mix. Most of us were ready to leave and tackle the world from another perspective. I, however, wanted to stay and pay him back for saving my life all those years ago. He taught me a magic that allowed me to breathe life into inanimate objects and create items with magic. I have been serving him ever since."

"Wow. I didn't know."

"It's okay. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to make sure that he hasn't slipped and broken something."

Erza laughed at that. "Alright. I'll be at the guild if you need me," she said before racing off to the book that led directly to Fairy Tail.

Richard sighed as he watched her leave. He missed having her around in the tower all the time. But she had insisted that she wanted to try living on her own and didn't want to take advantage of the two of them. They kept her room, though for whenever she wanted to use it.

Richard made his way to the book that led to Eric's bedroom, transporting there as soon as his fingers touched the yellowed pages. What he saw before him caused his heart to stop.

Eric was sitting on his bed, his entire body drenched in sweat as he grasped onto his chest where his heart was while his left hand was gripping his staff so tightly it's a wonder that it didn't break. His eyes were wide in terror and his body was convulsing in sporadic twitches. His skin was paler than usual, whiter than snow, his breathing was long and labored, coming out more like wheezes than anything. Never before had he looked so... old in Richard's eyes.

Thinking fast, Richard rushed over to Eric and began using what little healing magic he knew to restore Eric. Luckily for them both it worked and color began to wash back into the old scholar's wrinkled features. His breathing calmed, his eyes softened, and his hands both relaxed, his right falling to his side as he leaned forward slightly.

"Are you alright, Eric?" Richard said, forgetting the title in his worry. Eric nodded and put his hand up, silently saying to relax as he took deep breaths.

"I'm not getting any younger, am I?" he asked with a chuckle. "Wonder how much time I've still got."

"Don't say things like that. You still have plenty of time left."

"No. I don't. I can feel it. I don't if it'll be age or something else entirely, but my time is running short."

"Eric, please don't say things like that."

"Listen. I promise you that I will live to see Erza make S-Class. In the meantime, I need you to get ready for the final and most difficult mission of all."

"What, my lord?"

"I need you to find my successor. You will know him for he will have the mark of the Enlightened Eye in the same place as I. When I pass on, I need you to do this for me. Do you promise me this?"

"I do."

"And do your best to be there for Erza. You two are the closest to family that I have left. I want to be sure that you two will be alright without me."

"I promise."

"Good. There is still one last matter to resolve. My inheritance. Richard, I want you to have the Tower and you and Erza can split the rest."

"With all due respect, Lord Eric. I cannot accept. I am your butler. If anyone, the tower should go to Miss Scarlet."

"If you insist. I will be sure to do that as soon as she returns. The exam takes a few days, correct?"

"Yes, m'lord."

"Alright. In that case please let me rest. I am tired." He crawled under the covers of his bed, head relaxing on his pillows.

"Of course, Lord Eric. Let me know if you need anything."

"I will. And Richard!" he called just before Richard left through the book.

"Yes, lord?"

"Thank you."

"My pleasure."

Eric continued to rest in his bed for several days as he attempted to recover his strength. The episode that he'd had after Erza left resulted in him not being able to recover his magic properly for some reason. He slept most of the time, waking to eat and drink and talk with Richard only.

Erza had left after their spar for the S-class exam. They were both positive that she would succeed, and wanted to be there when she got back to congratulate her.

A storm was raging outside. Lightning cracking, wind howling, and rain slamming against the glass of the observatory. Eric and Richard sat and watched the the storm for a while in the observatory.

"Richard, I want to say thank you again. You have been serving me for years, and I do not have a way to repay you."

"Lord Eric, my services were to repay you for your kindness to me. Not the other way around."

"Even so. I feel that you deserve something. I'll think on it."

"Very well. Let's just get you back to bed."

When Richard went to help Eric stand, the entire tower rumbled and shook. Eric looked up at Richard, worry in his eyes.

"We've been found," he said. "Go to the main room. I will handle the intruders."

"No! Master, you are not ready."

"I can handle a few brats who think it's a good idea to attack my home," Eric replied angrily. He held out his hand and summoned his staff. He began circling it above himself, muttering incantations.

"Richard, stay in the main room. I will deal with the invaders."

With that he was whisked away by his magic. He reappeared at the bottom of the tower, where he saw six people, a man with tattooed lines covering his face followed by five children who Eric noticed to look no older than Erza herself.

"Who do you think you are to barge into my home?" Eric demanded of them, channeling his magic, causing his eyes to glow a menacing blue.

"We are Oracion Seis," the man answered. "A dark guild hired to kill you. We were payed a pretty penny to do so, so we will not be leaving."

"You do not have a choice in the matter," Eric warned. "You will either leave here with your bodies, or you will leave them behind on your way to the next world. Choose wisely."

"I will take option three, your soul departs and we get paid."

A massive battle broke out, the six dark mages against the elder scholar. Eric managed to hold his own for a good while, taking out all but the man who had spoken to him. He did not kill any of them, for he sensed the good within the children. In the man, however he sensed only darkness, and darkness that went beyond what he felt currently. Something deeper and darker, more powerful.

However, Richard was right. He had not recovered nearly enough, and had run out of magic too soon. The man stood over him, pointing a bejewled skull at him.

"Now you die," he said. The orb in the skull's mouth glowed a menacing purple as he readied a spell that Eric had seen multiple times during their fight.

"STOP!" a new voice commanded. The light dimmed as the man looked to the newcomer who stood in the hole that had been created by the dark guild.

"I will kill him," the man said as he walked over. Eric looked up at him and immediately felt hatred fill his heart.

"Rixon," he all but spat. "This was your doing? I should have known."

"I am not Rixon anymore, father. Now I go by Marde Guille. You should know this. It happened centuries ago, or has your old age addled your brain that much?"

"Do NOT call me your father!" Eric scolded. "You are no son of mine. You betrayed your family for power when you went to Zeref."

"Which brings me to why I am here," Marde said. "Where is E.N.D.?"

"I was entrusted to keep that book safe. Why would you think that I would give its location up to you?"

"Because I asked you to," Marde said with a wicked grin on his face. "And I always get what I asked for."

Richard, who had decided to disobey Eric, watched the scene in terror. Quickly, he grabbed a teleportation lacryma and vanished to where Erza was.

When he arrived on Tenrou Island he spared no time to look at the scenery, rather he rushed over to Erza, who had just finished and passed her trials.

"Lady Erza!" he yelled as he approached her.

"Richard?" she questioned in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Miss Erza, I beg of you. Please return with me. It is Lord Eric. He may die if we do not hurry!"

"What? How?" Erza shouted.

"The Tower was attacked by a dark guild and Lord Eric took it upon himself to fight them. But he has been weak recently. He had not recovered nearly enough to fight off all of them and lost. Now he is a prisoner to the dark guild as well as his own son, Rixon," he explained quickly. "Please, Miss Erza. We need your help."

"What are you talkin' about?" Makarov yelled. "We'll all go to help."

"I'm afraid you cannot. This lacryma can only transport two people at a time and I must pilot it."

"Then what are we standing here bickering for? Let's go!" Erza yelled as she grabbed the lacryma that Richard had pulled out. With a loud snap the two vanished.

They reappeared just outside of the tower on the side where the wall had been destroyed. Erza requipped into her strongest set of armor and summoned as many swords as she could.

"Get out here and fight me, cowards!" she screamed above the still raging storm.

She waited for a few moments before a man with long, black hair stepped out from the shadows of the tower's interior, a large, old book held under his arm.

"You must be father's latest project," Rixon, or Marde, said as he looked at her. Erza couldn't help the chill that ran down her spine.

"Where is Lord Eric?" Richard demanded.

"Right here," Marde said, reaching down behind him and throwing the limp body of Eric to their feet.

Richard immediately rolled Eric onto his back, gasping as he saw the large gaping hole in his chest. Erza looked down at him and panicked, dropping all of her swords and armor as she rushed to him.

"ERIC!" she cried out, holding his cold, lifeless face in her hands.

"The fool kept it within his body the entire time," Marde said as he held up the large book. "To believe that Lord Zeref left it within his protection all these years."

"You monster," Erza cursed as she stood again, requipping her armor back on. Richard stayed on his knees, tears mixing with the rain as he mourned his master's death.

"Come now, a monster is a person who tortures his own father by showing him visions of everyone he cared for being killed slowly then slowly and painfully carves out his chest cavity just for fun. Oh wait, that is what I did, isn't it?" Marde said, a sick, twisted smile on his face at the end.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Erza screamed as she charged the demon. Marde merely smirked.

"Tower, repel intruder," he commanded. Two large fists of stone shot from the tower, slamming into the knight and driving her back.

"What?" Richard gasped in shock. "Why is the tower obeying you?"  
"Because I am its new master. With the death of my father, the tower now belongs to me."

The man with the tattooed face came out and joined the others outside, the skull he previously held resting on a very familiar staff.

"Lord Eric's staff," Richard whispered.

"Give that back!" Erza ordered.

"And why would I?" the man retorted with a smirk. "It is the most powerful magical item in existence. A staff with near unlimited magical power that regenerates its power overnight. With a staff like this, I will be the most powerful mage in existence."  
"I said GIVE. IT. BACK!" She charged again, this time being stopped my Richard as he used his magic to control her armor.

"You cannot beat him while he has that staff," he told her. "He will kill you."

"I DON'T CARE! I REFUSE TO LET SOME PIECE OF TRASH LIKE HIM HAVE MY MASTER'S STAFF!"

"I will leave you two to your mourning," Marde said as he returned into the tower, the man following him. A yell of "Tower, leave this place," was heard before the entire building vanished into the sky.

"RAAAAAAHH!" Erza screamed into the sky. She requipped all of her armor so that she was in her normal attire, walked over to Richard and Eric and collapsed to her knees.

"Eric, I'm sorry. If only I had been here."

"Then you would not be an s-class mage. Eric would've been wracked with grief if he knew that you missed such an important event just to protect him." Richard looked to Erza, who had a constant stream of tear coming from her real eye. The rain made up for the other one.

"Eric knew that his time was coming. He has lived much longer than most humans. He had a good end of his life."

"How?" Erza angrily cried. "How could his end of been happy? He was tortured!"

"He met you," Richard yelled. Erza backed up in shock. Richard almost never raised his voice.

"Me? How could I-"

"He saw you as his granddaughter. A member of his family. After he met you and brought you into our family, the only time I saw him without a smile was when he was too serious about something else to smile. You brought something into his life that he had been lacking after his grandson vanished years ago. You gave him happiness. That I can promise you."

Erza whiped her tears away with no avail. She sniffled lightly and looked at her master once more.

"He deserves a funeral,"she said.

"And he will get one," a familiar voice said behind them. They both turned quickly to see none other than Makarov standing behind them.

"He was a good friend of mine. He taught me a lot about many things. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be where I am now. And I'm not the only person who feels this way. Many wihtin and outside the magical community would agree with me. I promise that he will recieve the service he deserves."

They both nodded. Holding their heads high, they stood, Richard carrying his master's body and left. As they walked away, the storm ended, the clouds breaking apart to reveal a clear, blue sky and a bright yellow sun.

 **AN: Hold on!**

 **Before you all take off the follow/favorites list, know that I will be posting one more chapter for this story. I know that it's short, but I don't really know how to make it too much longer. But, I have a question for all of my readers at the end of the final chapter. So be sure to check it out.**


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